The Project
by Suzuki Mi-chan
Summary: Everyone's favorite Slytherin, Draco Malfoy, and the insane Ravenclaw, Luna Lovegood, are paired to work together on a Defense Against the Dark Arts project. Can they overcome the hatred? (Of course they can! XD)
1. The Assignment

"The Project"  
  
Harry Potter Fanfiction By Kaigara Rating: PG-13  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"Alright, class. I have a little project for you all," Professor Calvin, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher said, tapping a stack of papers to his desk and setting them down. He stood up, running a hand through his unruly copper hair, and glanced around with gray eyes through glasses at the faces of fifth year Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students. Jacob Calvin stared, puzzled, at a very strange girl in the back left-hand corner. Luna Lovegood appeared to be tying the ends of her long, dirty-blonde hair in knots. He shook his head. That girl had always been beyond him.  
  
"I thought we could have a little fun, and show off our acting skills," Calvin began again. Exasperated sighs came from the class. Inside, he smiled, knowing the fifth year groups always got annoyed at his love for acting. He had, after all, been an actor before he found his wizard powers. A murmur went around the class.  
  
"Class, class! Now, I know I get annoying with my acting obsession, but I used to do this all the time back when I was a teacher in America. Of course, it wasn't a wizard school, but you get my drift. Anyway, I have paired you all up with students from the sixth year, and you and your partner are to prepare a five-minute skit having to do with the Dark Arts, and banishing it, or the dangers of it, or something. As long as it's not all rainbows, butterflies, and sparkly carriages, I'm fine. Now, I've paired you up by houses. Hufflepuff, you will be with sixth year Gryffindors, and Ravenclaw, you will be with sixth year Slytherins."  
  
There was a moan of disappointment from the Ravenclaw side of the room.  
  
"Oh, come on, it won't be that bad! Now, I'm going to call your groups, and—Yes, Miss Lovegood?"  
  
Luna sat up straight in her seat and spoke dreamily, as always, "Professor Calvin, Just a thought, if you expect us to perform these skits for you-"  
  
"Which I do."  
  
"-how will you get all of the groups together?"  
  
"Miss Lovegood, I'm going to make adjustments to the schedules. I've met with the headmaster, and he's alright with it. For maybe a week, you all and the sixth year Gryffindors and Slytherins are going to meet in the Great Hall. Don't worry, it won't be that hectic."  
  
Luna slouched and continued her hair-knotting.  
  
"Now, here are your groups. For Ravenclaw and Slytherin, Harriet Amond and Pansy Parkinson, Kara Atchison and Millicent Bulstrode..."  
  
For Luna, Professor Calvin's voice faded off. As usual, she was in her own little world. She felt like she had déjà vu, and was sure she had dreamed this moment. She had dreamed every moment, except her pairing, and became extremely alert when her professor came to the L's.  
  
"...Aaron Lenard and Katherine Marks, Marianne Louis and Denton Rice, Luna Lovegood and Draco Malfoy..."  
  
Luna choked on air at the hearing of her partner. Professor Calvin glanced up from his paper.  
  
"Jeremy Hall and—Something wrong, Miss Lovegood?" he asked, realizing Luna's fit of coughing and her wider-than-normal gaze. She nodded.  
  
"Draco—Malfoy?" she managed to say between coughs. By now, the whole room was staring at her.  
  
"Yes, that's what the paper says. Now, do you need to go to the hospital wing about that sudden cough?"  
  
Luna shook her head and rested her head on her desk as the professor read off of the list for mainly the rest of the class. 'Draco Malfoy?' she thought, 'Rude, obnoxious, hating Draco Malfoy? No, it can't be. But, somehow, it is.' Now she realized that she never really wanted to know her pairing in the dream she'd had of that day. Yet, she couldn't figure out why she wasn't as upset as she thought she would have normally been. That was Luna, the unexpected Loony Lovegood. When anyone, even herself, expected one thing to come from her, something else always did.  
  
But this was different.  
  
Draco Malfoy? Why wasn't she hyperventilating? Why wasn't she screaming her head off and running down the corridors? Last time she'd checked her mind, which definitely hadn't been more than five minutes ago, if that long, she'd hated—no, detested Draco Malfoy.  
  
"And, that should do it!" Professor Calvin placed the list on his desk and looked at all of the students. Most were fine with their pairings except, of course, Luna.  
  
"Head off the desk, Miss Lovegood. Now, for homework tonight, and this is for the sixth year Slytherins and Gryffindors, too, you are to meet in the library with your partner, and, you can do this while doing homework for other classes, if you choose, discuss your skit with them. I want these skits done in four weeks, not counting the holiday break. Have a good day!"  
  
The class gathered their things and scuttled out of the classroom.  
  
'Four weeks. I have to put up with Malfoy for four weeks. Then I can go back to detesting him, and things will be like they always were.' Luna thought, walking by Professor Calvin's desk.  
  
"Good bye, Professor," she said, dreamily.  
  
"Ah, Miss Lovegood, may I see you for a moment?" he asked. Luna nodded and stepped up to the mahogany desk.  
  
"May I ask," Professor Calvin lowered his voice, "what is wrong with having Draco Malfoy as a partner?"  
  
Luna's normally surprised-looking wide eyes narrowed to the size of a normal persons, and her voice lost the dreamy air. "I hate to be rude, but I can't stand him."  
  
"Well, Luna, I'm sorry I put you two together. I agree, Draco is not the nicest student—"  
  
"He's the rudest, most obnoxious, most hating."  
  
"—But I think all he needs is a good influence. You just might be that good influence, Luna."  
  
The Ravenclaw looked taken aback, and her eyes widened again.  
  
"Just think about that, Miss Lovegood."  
  
Luna nodded, waved to the professor, who winked and smiled at her, and walked out of the class.  
  
She walked briskly down the hall to Potions class, just as—guess who—was walking the opposite way down the same corridor.  
  
Draco nudged his goons, Crabbe and Goyle, and smirked at her, laughing as she walked past. She stopped for a moment, her misty gray eyes meeting his stone ones, as he walked past her. As they turned the corner, she blushed and wondered what they were laughing at, looking down. Luna began to wonder why she even cared, when she noticed the knots still in her hair. As she hurried to Potions, she tried to untie them.  
  
As she sat next to Ginny Weasley and another girl, Luna found herself distracted by the thought of the feel in her stomach as Draco's eyes had met hers, and the way his silvery-blonde hair fell in his stone-gray eyes.  
  
A/N: Well... There is chapter one! I have the pairings all planned out, and the first one should be painfully obvious. But... I NEED SOMEONE FOR RON! Poor Ron doesn't have anyone... Help me pair him up, please! Alright, here's the people taken: Harry, Hermione, Luna, Draco. The rest I doubt he would be paired with. Please review! I'll still put chapter two up, but it's nice to get reviews once in a while. 


	2. The Meeting

Chapter 2  
  
'Damn... Why am I so nervous? It's a stupid meeting! I'll just plan the skit, and it'll be over. Oh, but what if he doesn't like it... What the hell? Why do I care? ' Luna paced by a table in the library, wringing her hands, and being closely watched by Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat. She glanced down at it.  
  
"Shoo! Get away, you wretched cat!" Luna hissed as Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle walked in. The two stupid ones walked off in a different direction than their leader, who headed over to her.  
  
"Well, well, well. Loony Lovegood, is it?" Draco asked as he walked up to Luna.  
  
"What's it to you, Malfoy?" Luna asked, the dreamy sound in her voice gone, and her eyes cold.  
  
Draco smirked. 'He's kind of cute when he does that,' Luna found herself thinking. She realized, squinted, and shook her head, not wanting to believe she'd said that.  
  
"What way is that to greet your one chance of getting high marks on this project that crackhead professor gave us? And what's that look? It's totally different from the one you gave me in the corridor earlier this afternoon."  
  
Luna glared at him.  
  
"You're not my 'one chance' at getting a high mark on this, Malfoy. I'm ten times smarter than you'll ever hope to be."  
  
Draco walked closer to Luna and leaned his face to hers. "That may be so, Lovegood, but remember, you can't get a high mark if you don't have a partner, am I right?" he paused, holding back a laugh at her blush and widened eyes, "So, technically, I am your only hope, your one chance."  
  
Luna nodded, curtly, and sat down at the end of the table. Draco sat at the other.  
  
"So what are we going to do?" he asked, his chin resting on his fist. She looked at him like he was the insane one.  
  
"I don't know!"  
  
"Well, weren't you supposed to come here tonight with ideas?"  
  
Luna listened to the sounds of parchment rustling and the mummer of students discussing the skits with one another.  
  
"Well, I mean..."  
  
"See? I told you, you won't get ANYWHERE in this project without me. Now, I honestly don't care what we do. As long as it has to do with vampires."  
  
Luna felt her face brighten up. "Vampires? I love vampires! I wanted the act to have at least something to do with them."  
  
Draco nodded. "Yes, I find them quite fascinating, myself."  
  
"Like how, when they drink blood, they become young," she said, referring to a part in "Dracula" by Bram Stoker.  
  
"And it's interesting how they cast no reflection, and how the sun practically kills them."  
  
Luna nodded, "For some reason, I find them attractive... I really don't know why, but—oh, sorry. This is irrelevant."  
  
A conversation between her and Draco. Well, almost. Luna thought for a moment and realized it had been, well... Not bad. Coming to think about it, she couldn't think of why she ever hated Draco in the first place. It wasn't as if they'd ever noticed one another. Well, of course, she had heard about him, after all, Ginny Weasley talked about what an idiot he was all the time, but they had never actually said two words to one another.  
  
So, were they going to have another conversation?  
  
Obviously not. After about forty-five minutes, Draco got up, rolling up the parchment he had written some of his Divination essay on, and walked back. "I suppose we'll discuss this tomorrow, Lovegood." He said as he walked out.  
  
Luna took a deep breath and slouched in her chair. "It's over, Luna. You can breathe now. He's gone, and you don't have to think about him until tomorrow. Which is...Saturday?! What? Oh, no... Saturday, my unlucky day... No, no, no, no, no!" she muttered to herself, banging her forehead on the table, unaware of the students staring at her. Oh well, it's not like she would have particularly cared. Luna got stares from people every single day, and continued banging her head on the table, not really caring about the brain cells she was killing.  
  
"Luna? Luna, are you alright?" came a familiar voice and a poke in the shoulder. Luna glanced up and saw Hermione Granger looking at her.  
  
"Oh, hello, Hermione. Yes, I'm fine. Just trying to think about my Defense Against the Dark Arts project that Professor Calvin assigned me earlier today."  
  
The sixth year Gryffindor nodded, hardly convinced. "You mean the one where everyone has to put on an act?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Oh, really? Who did you get paired with? Ravenclaw was paired with Slytherin, right?"  
  
Luna nodded, "Yes. Draco Malfoy."  
  
Hermione coughed, similar to what happened to Luna in Defense Against the Dark Arts earlier that day.  
  
"Malfoy?! I cannot believe that Professor Calvin would pair you with him! Doesn't he know how much you hate him?"  
  
"Well, actually, I never really expressed a—"  
  
"I'd go and ask for another partner. That way, you wouldn't have to put up with thick-headed Malfoy, but you could still get the project done."  
  
Luna nodded, appearing to be off in her own little world. Hermione obviously couldn't reach her, so she stood up, and left, with an "I'll talk to you later, Luna."  
  
The Ravenclaw glanced around, for some unknown reason, and stood up, gathering her things, and strolled back to the Ravenclaw common room.  
  
"Animagus Menagerie," she said. Able to enter the common room with the password, Luna did so, and found her friend, Marina Duane, sitting by the window. She had come back earlier from her meeting with her partner.  
  
"Oh, hello, Luna!" she said, as Luna took a seat across from her.  
  
"Hello, Marina."  
  
Marina brushed some of her straight, auburn hair behind her ear. "How was it?"  
  
Luna tried to appear clueless. "How was what?"  
  
"You know! Meeting with..." the first paused, "Draco!"  
  
How could Luna have forgotten? Marina Duane had always had a crush on Draco ever since their first year, when she'd seen him as the Slytherin seeker in a Quidditch game, only Draco would never give her the time of day. This confused Marina to death. Usually, no boy could ever resist her shoulder- length, straight auburn hair and her cerulean eyes. Her hourglass figure helped matters along, too.  
  
"It was alright."  
  
"Alright? Alright?! That's all you have to say?! Luna, this is Draco Malfoy we're talking about! The boy of your dreams!"  
  
Luna choked on air again. She definitely hadn't expected that to come.  
  
"Marina, you mean the boy of your dreams, not mine."  
  
Marina rolled her ocean-blue eyes. "Luna, Luna, Luna. Don't try and tell me that you don't fancy Draco. I know better. The world knows better. Alright, alright, so only I do. But, being the sweet girl you are, you don't want to admit it, because you know that I want him as well."  
  
Luna tried to sink lower in her chair, but went to playing with her dirty- blonde hair, instead.  
  
"Really, you shouldn't act like you don't care all of the time. I've noticed that we'll be talking, and you'll be interested in the conversation, but I'll mention him, and you'll snap off into space. That makes anyone suspicious of one's feelings."  
  
Luna blinked at her friend, and stood up.  
  
"Good night, Marina, I'm going to bed."  
  
Marina smiled, nodded, and looked outside the window at the grounds. Not that you could see anything, it was after dark, but oh well.  
  
Luna laid in bed thinking about Marina's words. She truly wasn't sure if she was in love with Draco or not, but she always did feel uncomfortable when Marina spoke of him.  
  
For a moment, she remembered Harry Potter, and how emotional he had been in his fifth year. Would she spend so much time dwelling on the topic of her feelings for a boy that she would become like that? Praying that she wouldn't, Luna fell asleep.  
  
A/N: XDD Thank you, to my reviewers! (Huggles) Anyway, I just realized something about chapter one: Neville would be a sixth year in this fic... Sorry, I just always seem to think of him as a year below Harry and the rest, and I have absolutely no clue why... Sorry, again, to anyone who noticed! I fixed it, though! And don't ask about the password. I'm clueless when it comes to those sort of things.  
  
To my reviewers:  
  
Shwinlewin: XDD Thank you! Yes, I thought the coupling was odd, too, when I thought of them together in school one day, but, then again, I live for odd couples!  
  
Lens: Thanks, I am continuing, obviously! Yep, like I said before, an odd little fic I've been planning for about a month now!  
  
Kamila: You really think it's brilliant? Thank you! It's one of my favorite pairings, also. And don't worry, I plan to keep this fic going until the end! 


End file.
